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    <title>Help On LaTeX \&lt;space&gt;</title>

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<h2>\&lt;space&gt;</h2>


<p>LaTeX normally leaves a little extra space after sentences.

    However, it uses a rather simple rule for determining whether a

    period ends a sentence: it assumes that periods end sentences

    <em>unless</em> they follow an upper case letter. To let LaTeX

    know that a period does <em>not</em> end a sentence after, for

    example, an abbreviation, use <tt>\&lt;space&gt;</tt></p>


<p>For example,</p>



<pre>

    Jones, et al.\ (1993) ...

</pre>


<p>Such a space may also be needed after a text-producing

    command, such as one defined with

    <tt><a href="ltx-18.html">\newcommand</a></tt>. As an example,

    consider</p>



<pre>

    \newcommand{\water}{H$_2$O}

    \water, \water\ everywhere, but not a drop ...

</pre>


<p>The first <tt>\water</tt> command is terminated by the comma;

    note that LaTeX does not leave a space between the first

    <tt>\water</tt> and the comma -- as desired -- and the trailing

    space is treated as an interword space. However, the second

    <tt>\water</tt> command is terminated by the space, but LaTeX

    would not leave an extra space after this, running

    "H<sub>2</sub>Owater" into one word, except for the trailing

    <tt>\ </tt>.</p>


<p>An alternate way to indicate the end of a command so that a

    trailing space is interpreted as an interword space is to use

    braces:</p>



<pre>

    \water, \water{} everywhere, ...

</pre>


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<p>

    See <tt><a href="ltx-432.html">\@</a></tt> for the opposite case<br>

    See also <a href="ltx-99.html">Line and Page Breaking</a>,

    <a href="ltx-143.html">Spaces and Boxes</a><br>

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